I went to the Lakenheath and Mildenhall open days/airshows before they halted them due to security concerns. On the first visit as I walked through the gates I was confronted with 20+ F-111s lined up, awesome sight. Had a soft spot for this aircraft ever since.
Really enjoyed your review of what when built will be a very nice looking kit and thank you for all the information on Operation El Dorado Canyon, l remember the attack and hearing it on the news but l was in my early thirties and didn’t pay much attention to busy trying to earn a living then 👍
I remember building the Revell F111 back in the 70's. That had the crew escape capsule and retractable undercarriage and it worked! Not saying it was super detailed but it was a good gimmicky thing.
These F111 were due to come in to our NATO Cross Servicing team at RAF Bruggen in Germany, for amongst other things a refuel, which even we were uncomfortable with, so it wasn't just the Italians. However, as you stated this did not happen. A pair did however visit us just after the event - resplendent in brand new commemorative paintjobs on the fin and nose, although not the exact aircraft depicted in this kit. I do remember the stupidly large size of the things, wheel bays big enough to live in, and an EXTREMELY slow start up and see off sequence.... Needless to say, I preferred handling things a bit more fightery like F-16s or Mirages where I didn't have to stand around watching the steam powered startup checks slowly unwind before chocks away.
The maintenance requirements were ultimately what grounded the F-111 in both the United States and Australia. To give you an idea -- 28% of the annual maintenance budget of TAC (Tactical Air Command, US Air Force) was spent on the F-111 fleet! TAC at the time (1980s, early 1990s) had over 3,000 aircraft in service and upwards of 8 different airframe types with multiple models in service of most planes! The F-111 was RIDICULOUSLY expensive to keep operational. Fewer than 600 F-111s were manufactured in 7 different variants with so many changes between models that ordering spare parts was a nightmare! They had at least 6 different models of one basic engine design with at least 3-4 different inlet configurations! There were at least 4 different avionics packages between models, too. The Australians were originally going to keep their F-111s operational until 2020 but moved retirement up to 2010. On average, their F-111s spent 150 hours in maintenance on the ground for every hour of flight!
Okay... This is a year late, as I just saw this. A few comments from one who actually worked on BOTH aircraft depicted in the kit. Not just the model of each aircraft, but those actual tail numbers. I was stationed at RAF Lakenheath from Christmas Eve 1984 until the week before Christmas 1987. I was a weapons loader on the F-111F's stationed there, and was on one of the load crews that loaded the aircraft for Operation Eldorado Canyon. We were playing one of our usual quarterly "wargame" exercises, so at first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When we were told to leave the weapons on the aircraft, that's when we realized something was up. Yeah... nobody knew exactly what was going on (or at least, wasn't telling us lowly enlisted people) until after the aircraft took off. We were on 12-hour shifts that day, which is normal for exercise weeks, so, the planes took off, I went home (lived off base in a little town called Burwell, about halfway between Lakenheath and Cambridge), and the next day, drove back to the base with my wife as it was a payday, and she was doing the banking and shopping while I was working. The exercise was technically still ongoing, but most people were standing around waiting for our birds to come back - kind of like that scene in "Memphis Belle" when everyone is waiting for the Belle to come back from her last mission. Anyway, that's my story about Eldorado Canyon. After Lakenheath, I was stationed at Cannon AFB in New Mexico. The base is about halfway between the northern and southern borders of the state, and 20 miles from the west Texas border. I went from cool, wet England to hot, dry New Mexico - not quite desert, but close enough. I was still a weapons loader, and "loaded" that particular aircraft as well, although the paint was different. Cannon's F-111D's were still in the black bottom and tan/green/dark green camo pattern when I left there in July of 1991. A few month prior to that, we were getting the FB-111's from the Pease and Plattsburgh air bases as they were transitioning to other aircraft. They were painted the gray color that's shown in the kit instructions, so my guess is the Air Force decided to to go with that for all the aircraft at Cannon. I always called it "SAC" gray, since at that time, that was the color the Strategic Air Command was painting most of their stuff. As for the kit itself, the only glaring inaccuracy I can see is that at no time EVER that I was a weapon troop on these aircraft (1984-1991) were the outboard pylons installed on them. Those are fixed pylons, which means for takeoff and landing, any weapons/pods/whatever, would be angled towards the fuselage, and once airborne, the wings could not be fully swept or whatever was loaded on those pylons would be pointing outwards. ONLY the four inboard pylons were used, because they would pivot as the wings moved, maintaining an orientation parallel to the direction of travel. Honestly, I'm not sure there were ANY outboard pylons on the base at either location. I certainly never saw one, and I worked both on the flightline and in the weapons systems maintenance shop.
Great history to this plane, many thanks for researching and educating. I knew we were very close to ordering some after the TSR-2 cancellation. Didn't know anything about the Libyan wrist slapping exercise so that was interesting. They have one at Cosford museum, hoping to visit again maybe after Telford show on the way back South. Great vid Peter, keep em coming 👏👍
Thank Chris...UK Gov made a huge mistake cancelling TSR-2 and when the F-111 wings literally started falling off, their error in seriously considering these became clear.
A fellow Puerto Rican, Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci, was one of the two crewmen killed on the downed F-111 that day. Adds to the complexity of our colonial relationship with the US.
Hobby 2000 have released some excellent subjects of late,my favourites being their Dragon 1/32 Bf 110 and Hasegawa 1/48 F-8E "MiG killers" both come with excellent cartograf decals.
@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Yes,that would add to the kit. The story behind the F-8 MiG killers would have been worth reading,but there are some excellent TH-cam documentaries about the F-8s combat record in Vietnam.
I remember the disco bombing and Libyan raid well. I’ll never forget the news footage of the Libyans holding up the helmet of one of the crew from a downed F-111. I also had the privilege of meeting a A-6 Intruder crew that were part of the raid at an air show. No interesting stories though, all they would say was they had an equipment failure and had to return to the carrier. Looks like a nice model, I always thought the F-111 was an interesting bird.
A repop of the 1/72 Hasegawa kit from 1989-90. There was a whole series of F-111 variants out, except for the F-111B. This is the 1/72 model to build, from the time Hasegawa was the king of plastics...
I remember seeing the newsflash on TV highlighting this incident in 1986. It was claimed the bombing of the Pan Am plane over Lockerbie was in retaliation for that. Is this the first time the aircraft involved in that raid have been depicted in kit form?
One of two F111s on manoeuvres sadly crashed into farmland not far from my home town in Dorset back in 1980. I was only about 6 and my dad was a traffic police officer at the time and was 1st on the scene of the wreckage, his partner was asked to go up in a USAF helicopter to take photos of the site Sadly both pilots were killed 😔
Yes, same here...I was amazed they flew all the way from Lakenheath and that was before I realised they had to avoid crossing central Europe, and go the long way round! 😨
I don't remember the type of airplanes that were used but I do remember it was a strike meant as an answer to the bombing in Berlin of a discotheque that was often visited by US soldiers.
Enjoyed the video. You can't have movable wings AND dropped flaps. It's the same with the later high-detail Hasegawa F-14. In my opinion, movable wings is just a gimmick, and I'd rather have the extra detail instead. The area where the wing trailing edge enters the fuselage on these swing-wing aircraft can't be represented accurately if the wing has to move in and out.
I have this kit and was quite disappointed. Between the non-swing wings, fixed open flaps & slats, lack of weapons with the original kit & the instructions showing a different LN aircraft to the one on the box, it took the joy out of buying it. There is/was two LN F-111s released by Hobby 2000 (H2K). On was the boxing you have there, the other showed the example in those instructions on the outside of the box. Don't get me wrong, I was glad of the extras from H2K but the kit itself seemed minimal & really lacks build options.
Yes that is fair comment Robert...typical Hasegawa is to provide a lack of weapons as they sell seperate rockets and bombs sets in 1/72, which I will be reviewing soon.
It's the same method Hasegawa used for the F-14 kit in 1988. There are two slots cut in the wing that fit onto an alignment part in the wing root giving the correct forward or back angle. One benefit is that you can paint the wings and then just slot them in after the build is done. Very useful for transport and storage if the wings are forward cause you can just pop them off.
I went to the Lakenheath and Mildenhall open days/airshows before they halted them due to security concerns.
On the first visit as I walked through the gates I was confronted with 20+ F-111s lined up, awesome sight. Had a soft spot for this aircraft ever since.
Really enjoyed your review of what when built will be a very nice looking kit and thank you for all the information on Operation El Dorado Canyon, l remember the attack and hearing it on the news but l was in my early thirties and didn’t pay much attention to busy trying to earn a living then 👍
I remember building the Revell F111 back in the 70's. That had the crew escape capsule and retractable undercarriage and it worked! Not saying it was super detailed but it was a good gimmicky thing.
I recall I made both the Airfix & the Revell F-111s, in the 70s, both having workable swing wings, and one had retractable undercarriage.
Blimey Peter, ANOTHER kit I've done. Feel like I've got a stalker 🤣🤣🤣. Very nice kit, this one. looks good with flaps and slats deployed.
These F111 were due to come in to our NATO Cross Servicing team at RAF Bruggen in Germany, for amongst other things a refuel, which even we were uncomfortable with, so it wasn't just the Italians. However, as you stated this did not happen. A pair did however visit us just after the event - resplendent in brand new commemorative paintjobs on the fin and nose, although not the exact aircraft depicted in this kit. I do remember the stupidly large size of the things, wheel bays big enough to live in, and an EXTREMELY slow start up and see off sequence.... Needless to say, I preferred handling things a bit more fightery like F-16s or Mirages where I didn't have to stand around watching the steam powered startup checks slowly unwind before chocks away.
The maintenance requirements were ultimately what grounded the F-111 in both the United States and Australia.
To give you an idea -- 28% of the annual maintenance budget of TAC (Tactical Air Command, US Air Force) was spent on the F-111 fleet! TAC at the time (1980s, early 1990s) had over 3,000 aircraft in service and upwards of 8 different airframe types with multiple models in service of most planes! The F-111 was RIDICULOUSLY expensive to keep operational.
Fewer than 600 F-111s were manufactured in 7 different variants with so many changes between models that ordering spare parts was a nightmare! They had at least 6 different models of one basic engine design with at least 3-4 different inlet configurations! There were at least 4 different avionics packages between models, too.
The Australians were originally going to keep their F-111s operational until 2020 but moved retirement up to 2010. On average, their F-111s spent 150 hours in maintenance on the ground for every hour of flight!
Can’t wait for this one! Thanks!
Okay... This is a year late, as I just saw this. A few comments from one who actually worked on BOTH aircraft depicted in the kit. Not just the model of each aircraft, but those actual tail numbers.
I was stationed at RAF Lakenheath from Christmas Eve 1984 until the week before Christmas 1987. I was a weapons loader on the F-111F's stationed there, and was on one of the load crews that loaded the aircraft for Operation Eldorado Canyon. We were playing one of our usual quarterly "wargame" exercises, so at first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When we were told to leave the weapons on the aircraft, that's when we realized something was up. Yeah... nobody knew exactly what was going on (or at least, wasn't telling us lowly enlisted people) until after the aircraft took off. We were on 12-hour shifts that day, which is normal for exercise weeks, so, the planes took off, I went home (lived off base in a little town called Burwell, about halfway between Lakenheath and Cambridge), and the next day, drove back to the base with my wife as it was a payday, and she was doing the banking and shopping while I was working. The exercise was technically still ongoing, but most people were standing around waiting for our birds to come back - kind of like that scene in "Memphis Belle" when everyone is waiting for the Belle to come back from her last mission.
Anyway, that's my story about Eldorado Canyon.
After Lakenheath, I was stationed at Cannon AFB in New Mexico. The base is about halfway between the northern and southern borders of the state, and 20 miles from the west Texas border. I went from cool, wet England to hot, dry New Mexico - not quite desert, but close enough. I was still a weapons loader, and "loaded" that particular aircraft as well, although the paint was different. Cannon's F-111D's were still in the black bottom and tan/green/dark green camo pattern when I left there in July of 1991. A few month prior to that, we were getting the FB-111's from the Pease and Plattsburgh air bases as they were transitioning to other aircraft. They were painted the gray color that's shown in the kit instructions, so my guess is the Air Force decided to to go with that for all the aircraft at Cannon. I always called it "SAC" gray, since at that time, that was the color the Strategic Air Command was painting most of their stuff.
As for the kit itself, the only glaring inaccuracy I can see is that at no time EVER that I was a weapon troop on these aircraft (1984-1991) were the outboard pylons installed on them. Those are fixed pylons, which means for takeoff and landing, any weapons/pods/whatever, would be angled towards the fuselage, and once airborne, the wings could not be fully swept or whatever was loaded on those pylons would be pointing outwards. ONLY the four inboard pylons were used, because they would pivot as the wings moved, maintaining an orientation parallel to the direction of travel. Honestly, I'm not sure there were ANY outboard pylons on the base at either location. I certainly never saw one, and I worked both on the flightline and in the weapons systems maintenance shop.
@@jodonnell64 Thanks Jo, great background info indeed! 👍🏻
Great history to this plane, many thanks for researching and educating. I knew we were very close to ordering some after the TSR-2 cancellation. Didn't know anything about the Libyan wrist slapping exercise so that was interesting. They have one at Cosford museum, hoping to visit again maybe after Telford show on the way back South.
Great vid Peter, keep em coming 👏👍
Thank Chris...UK Gov made a huge mistake cancelling TSR-2 and when the F-111 wings literally started falling off, their error in seriously considering these became clear.
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Thankfully the Buccaneer and eventually Tornado saved the day 👍
A fellow Puerto Rican, Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci, was one of the two crewmen killed on the downed F-111 that day. Adds to the complexity of our colonial relationship with the US.
Hobby time -- no politics please 🙄.
Hobby 2000 have released some excellent subjects of late,my favourites being their Dragon 1/32 Bf 110 and Hasegawa 1/48 F-8E "MiG killers" both come with excellent cartograf decals.
I just wish they would add some history detail, but the kits are great! 👍🏻
@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Yes,that would add to the kit. The story behind the F-8 MiG killers would have been worth reading,but there are some excellent TH-cam documentaries about the F-8s combat record in Vietnam.
I remember the disco bombing and Libyan raid well. I’ll never forget the news footage of the Libyans holding up the helmet of one of the crew from a downed F-111. I also had the privilege of meeting a A-6 Intruder crew that were part of the raid at an air show. No interesting stories though, all they would say was they had an equipment failure and had to return to the carrier.
Looks like a nice model, I always thought the F-111 was an interesting bird.
A repop of the 1/72 Hasegawa kit from 1989-90.
There was a whole series of F-111 variants out, except for the F-111B.
This is the 1/72 model to build, from the time Hasegawa was the king of plastics...
I remember seeing the newsflash on TV highlighting this incident in 1986. It was claimed the bombing of the Pan Am plane over Lockerbie was in retaliation for that. Is this the first time the aircraft involved in that raid have been depicted in kit form?
I don't think so, Hasegawa & Revell amongst others have had them before though I cannot recall their markings...
i was on CQ watching this happen when my unit suddenly went on full alert.we got as far as just about getting on aircraft when we were called down
One of two F111s on manoeuvres sadly crashed into farmland not far from my home town in Dorset back in 1980. I was only about 6 and my dad was a traffic police officer at the time and was 1st on the scene of the wreckage, his partner was asked to go up in a USAF helicopter to take photos of the site
Sadly both pilots were killed 😔
Oh dear...didn't know that. 😞 Thank you for sharing though...RIP to those brave airmen.
Reagan’s Revenge: El Dorado Canyon. I remember it well, as a 20 something watching on TV.
Yes, same here...I was amazed they flew all the way from Lakenheath and that was before I realised they had to avoid crossing central Europe, and go the long way round! 😨
I don't remember the type of airplanes that were used but I do remember it was a strike meant as an answer to the bombing in Berlin of a discotheque that was often visited by US soldiers.
@@Emdee5632 You don't remember them Emdee? You making me feel very OLD, Dude! 😖
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab I was 21 in 1986. I don't remember what aircraft they were but that it was a formidable fleet.
@@Emdee5632 Oh! You same age as me! 🫢
Enjoyed the video. You can't have movable wings AND dropped flaps. It's the same with the later high-detail Hasegawa F-14. In my opinion, movable wings is just a gimmick, and I'd rather have the extra detail instead. The area where the wing trailing edge enters the fuselage on these swing-wing aircraft can't be represented accurately if the wing has to move in and out.
I have this kit and was quite disappointed.
Between the non-swing wings, fixed open flaps & slats, lack of weapons with the original kit & the instructions showing a different LN aircraft to the one on the box, it took the joy out of buying it. There is/was two LN F-111s released by Hobby 2000 (H2K). On was the boxing you have there, the other showed the example in those instructions on the outside of the box. Don't get me wrong, I was glad of the extras from H2K but the kit itself seemed minimal & really lacks build options.
Yes that is fair comment Robert...typical Hasegawa is to provide a lack of weapons as they sell seperate rockets and bombs sets in 1/72, which I will be reviewing soon.
It's 1/72. You shouldn't expect too much...
@@stevesmodelbuilds5473 I disagree...see my recent reviews of the Clear Prop Mig - 23 or Arma Airacobra and you will see what I mean...
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Okay, I will. I respect your opinions 😀.
wings can be posed swept but flaps and slats must be closed
That makes sense, but not shown in dodgy instructions
It's the same method Hasegawa used for the F-14 kit in 1988. There are two slots cut in the wing that fit onto an alignment part in the wing root giving the correct forward or back angle. One benefit is that you can paint the wings and then just slot them in after the build is done. Very useful for transport and storage if the wings are forward cause you can just pop them off.
Очень интересная модель и фирма...только в России не встречается!😢😮
Nice kit. Not cheap, but I've done less interesting, comparable kits costing more.
Ah ha...I was right, it is the F-111🤣
Yes...As Obi Wan said: "Your insight serves you well...but beware, it could be used to serve the Empire!" 😉
NEVER!@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab
F 111 = amianto=💩💩